Some You Give Away
by othirish
Summary: Senior year at Eden Hall was supposed to be perfect but, what happens when what you want and what you get don't quite meet?
1. Chapter 1

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Ch.1 – Some you Give Away

This was it, the moment they had been working for since the days of District 5, the right to fight for a State Hockey Championship. If anyone deserved it, the Ducks did. After playing JV their freshman and sophomore seasons and losing in the state semi finals their junior year, they were about to begin their senior year at Eden Hall and suddenly, hockey was the last thing on their mind.

"No Julie, this time it's for real, I can't deal with him anymore," 17-year-old Connie Moreau announced as she slammed her Physics book on the desk.

"What did he do this time Cons," Julie said lazily while reading a magazine on her bed. Connie and her boyfriend Guy had been breaking up and going back out for years now. To hear Connie come in angry was no surprise to Julie Gaffney, Connie's best friend and only other girl teammate.

"He cheated on me," her voice finally said after she fell to the floor of the dorm room they just moved into. That was the last thing Julie expected to hear, not after the last time something like this happened.

"Oh Cons I'm so sorry," her sandy haired best friend cooed as she held Connie in her arms. "Do you want to talk about it," Julie asked moments later.

"No, not right now, can we just sit here a while and watch a movie or something," the petite brunette managed to say before silently sobbing into her pillow.

Somewhere on the other side of the dorm a somewhat guilt stricken Guy was working up the nerve to tell Connie's other best friend and their beloved captain, Charlie Conway, what had taken place just moments ago in Guy's car outside. Guy softly knocked outside of Charlie and Adam's room. "Come in," he heard someone respond over loud voices emulating from the TV.

"Hey Charlie, what's going on man," Guy said hesitantly. "What's up Preppy," he added with a nod acknowledging Adam who was currently lying on his bed watching ESPN.

"What up Guy," Charlie said nonchalantly not even bothering to look up from the computer screen.

That how it had always been with the Ducks, a feeling of comfort, you didn't have to try to make small talk if you didn't want to, you could just be completely comfortable in the silence and presence of your childhood friends.

"Charlie, something just happened with me and Connie," Guy finally choked out as he took an awkward seat in Adam's chair.

"Well what happened is she okay," he said growing concerned and finally tearing himself away from the screen.

Adam did his best not to eavesdrop but it's hard when you live in a room that's 11x16 feet.

"We broke up, for real this time," Guy said. "I cheated on her when I went to go visit my cousin at UM last weekend."

The room was quiet for a minute before Charlie stood up and walked towards the door. He simply opened it, pointed to Guy and then to the door. Guy took this as his cue to leave and after doing so had the door slammed so hard in his face he thought the hinges would break off. Although they were all teammates Charlie felt a stronger bond towards Connie. He had always been there for her. Connie would tell Charlie things she couldn't even tell Guy.

Walking down the hall to his own room, several doors opened to see what the loud noise was, including the Bash Brother's triple room, which housed Fulton, Portman, and Kenny Wu. Dean, obviously hearing the news from his longtime girlfriend Julie Gaffney looked at Guy with disgust on his face. "Jesus Guy," he said before closing the door.

The fact of the matter was it wasn't the first time Guy had cheated on Connie, it happened once their junior year too. Only that time she took him back thinking it would be different this time, he would treat her better. Things did change for about a month before Guy fell into the same pattern of taking his girlfriend for granted. Always flirting openly with most of the girls on campus even if Connie was right there. If Connie even considered talking to a guy outside of the Ducks it was not going to end well. Guy would either yell at her or ignore her. Most of the guys on the team hated the way he treated her but never said anything because Connie was always saying how her and Guy shared so much history together.

By the time dinner rolled around, all of the Ducks had heard the news, and Guy was public enemy number one. Arriving with Julie on her left and Charlie on her right, Connie took a seat surrounded by all the other ducks.

"Cons, I heard, I'm sorry he's such an asshole," Luis said, genuinely speaking each word. "It's Friday, we can go out, I know where there's going to be a party with at least 3 kegs," he added smoothly.

"Actually Luis, that sounds awesome right now," Connie said as she moved food around on her plate, not really feeling the urge to eat.

Connie and Luis had always had a friendship filled with witty banter and harmless flirting. So much so it made Guy extremely uncomfortable when the two of them hung out all the time.

"You know I'm in, beer and girls, two of my favorite things," Goldberg said cheekily on the other end of the table.

"You're forgetting donuts," Averman squealed.

While it was true Greg Goldberg did love food, the summer between his sophomore and junior year he hit a growth spurt and lost about 40 pounds, he had no problem talking to girls now.

"We should all go, it will be good to get out together before classes start and hockey truly begins to take over our life," Charlie added as he stood up to throw his tray away.

"It's not that far of a walk, we can leave in like an hour and a half, pre-game in mine and Cowboy's room before we leave," Luis said standing up to throw his tray away as well.

"Are you sure I don't look completely slutty," Connie asked for the 8th time as she stood in front of a full-length mirror. Clad in a tunic dress that showed a lot more skin than she was used to Connie stood skeptically. It's true the dress was a risky choice for the usually reserved hockey player but tonight was different, tonight she was just Connie, not Guy's girlfriend Connie.

I think you look great," Julie said as she pulled her skinny jeans on. She was wearing flats, skinny jeans, and a tailored shirt. It never really mattered what she wore though, her and Dean were usually having sex somewhere before the night ended anyway. They had been dating for a little over a year and they couldn't be happier, not the needy hot and cold couple Guy and Connie had once been but the rock solid two cool people dating vibe.

As the girls walked around to the other side of the floor where the boys lived they passed Guys room. Knowing he would be in there, Connie suddenly yelled, "I hope I don't get too drunk tonight and hook up with someone," holding back laughter as she did.

As soon as they entered the boys room the smell of cheap liquor and beer filled their noses. "Girls lets start drinking you've got a lot of catching up to do," Russ said passing each of the girls a shot. Connie downed hers quicker than usual.

"Pour me another," she pleaded.

"Dibs on not taking care of her tonight," Averman immediately said. It happened every time they drank, one always got out of control; tonight that title definitely was going to Connie.

After the team developed a good enough buzz they headed out into the night. It was still warm, only late August. As they walked along the road it became noticeable that Connie was definitely attaching herself to Luis, and he wasn't complaining. They continued to shamelessly flirt until they reached the party. As soon as they got inside they split up. Portman and Julie to go scope out a good place to bang, Fulton and Kenny to go sign up for beer pong, they made quite the team. Russ, Averman, Goldberg, and Dwayne went in search of drunken sophomores to hook up with later. Adam and Charlie talked quietly to each other about not losing sight of Connie; she really was going to be a handful tonight. Luis and Connie headed over to the keg. "You look really good tonight Cons," Luis announced as he poured them each a cup.

"Thanks, you don't think it's too much? Guy hated when I would wear clothes that actually showed I had a figure."

"I think what Guy did was stupid, and you did the right thing by breaking up with him," he tried to tell her over the noise of the house.

"For the first time in years, I finally feel free," she said as she watched Fulton and Kenny start to play their game.

"Dude I'm telling you the only reason she even came out tonight is because of Luis," Adam said to Charlie later on in the night. Charlie had been concerned over his best friend. He was also slightly jealous that Connie hadn't gone to him for support. They always had a brother and sister type relationship; they had known each other since they were 5.

"I know but look at her dude, she's absolutely shitfaced," Charlie added while pointing to a barely standing Connie.

"Are you ever going to tell her?" Adam asked his best friend.

"I don't know man, I mean at least Luis was never close to Guy, he's been one of our best friends since District 5."

"Yeah but, that doesn't matter if you feel something you feel something, sometimes you just have to go after it," Adam said leaving his friend to ponder his feelings.

"Dean we're going to have to make an appearance downstairs eventually," Julie pleaded as she fixed her hair in the mirror.

"Come on babe," he said whispering huskily into her ear.

He began to kiss her softly caressing her neck and cupping her face with his hand. He slowly deepened the kisses and moved the intertwined bodies toward the bed. Once lying on top of each other she began to take off his shirt rapidly. He unbuttoned hers and unhooked her bra with his free hand, a trick he had practiced many times. She unbuttoned his pants and slid them off with her legs while never breaking the kiss. As he took hers off Dean quietly said, "Julie I need you right now." He entered inside her and she softly moaned putting her hands across his chest to steady herself. That was the thing with her and Portman, no matter how many times they had sex, it always felt like the first time.

Things were really starting to heat up when all of a sudden the door opened and all they could see were two bodies wrapped with their backs to them stumbling into the room while ripping each other's clothes off. Julie saw a tunic dress hit the floor and knew it was Connie. Julie and Dean hurriedly got dressed and moved off the bed. As soon as the drunken couple lay down, the other part was unmasked, Luis. It really was no surprise, they had been all over each other the while night. As they continued to kiss Julie and Dean got out of the room unnoticed.

"She's going to regret that tomorrow," Julie said as they walked down the stairs to find the other ducks. While Julie had agreed with everyone else that breaking up with Guy was good for Connie, she didn't exactly think that hooking up with the school's most eligible bachelor drunk was her best move.

When they got back downstairs they were greeted by Averman, Goldberg, Russ, and Dwayne who were not only drunk but, lady less. "I don't know about ya'll but I'm getting hungry," Dwayne said while petting his stomach.

"Alright lets get everyone and go to Mickey's for some food," Averman added craning his neck to see his other Duck counterparts.

Soon everyone but Luis and Connie had assembled in the foyer of the house. "Should we call one of them to let them know we're leaving?" Kenny asked.

"They're not babies, they'll be fine," Charlie said a taste of annoyance in his voice. With that being said, the Ducks stammered out of the house feeling pretty good about themselves. When they arrived at Mickey's Diner, thankfully Charlie's mother wasn't working; they all piled into a long table and each ordered.

"How awkward is it going to be when Guy finally shows his face around us again," Fulton finally said bringing up the subject nobody really wanted to talk about.

"I'm not really sure, I mean we all watched him treat her like shit for so long I never really thought she would break up with him, it's the end of an era," Adam spoke. He was right, Connie and Guy being together was all the Ducks could ever remember even during their peewee hockey days. It used to be Connie who was in control of the relationship but during their sophomore year something changed and it was Guy who was mistreating her.

"It's not like we can just throw him off the team, he's one of our best forwards," Dwayne said. "But I really can't respect him for treating a girl like that, especially Connie, who's hot as hell."

"It's going to be so weird, especially when they're on the ice together," Julie said, staring out the window into the starry night sky.

"I'm pretty sure Guy knows where we stand on the issue, I just hope he doesn't flip out when he hears that Connie's getting over him by getting under Luis," Goldberg said matter of factly.

"GOLDBERG," the table yelled in unison.

"Connie are you sure you want to do this," Luis said pulling out a condom.

"Luis are we going to have an after school special or are you going to fuck me," Connie said growing impatient.

"Ha well okay then."

He planted kisses on her stomach working his way up to her neck deepening the kiss with each step up. He stroked her breasts with his hands as she lay underneath his fit torso. He began to kiss her mouth and she moaned with ecstasy. She rolled over so she was on top and began to slowly gyrate against his body completely in sync with him. She felt comfortable with Luis. She didn't have to prove she was good enough like she had to with Guy. As they continued Luis moaned in appreciation at the way Connie swayed her hips. He began to push harder, trying to go in deeper when Connie screamed his name over and over. She crashed his lips onto hers as they prepared for the climax. It had come and gone a few moments later and they each laid there catching their breaths while their heartbeats slowed down to a normal pace.

Not ready to throw in the towel, Connie lowered herself to Luis's stomach and began to kiss him tenderly traveling downward. Luis sat up thinking to himself how Guy could throw away a girl as good as Connie. In the back of his mind he knew this moment was going to change everything between the Ducks.

An hour or so later they decided it was best to head back downstairs to find the rest of their team. After searching around and seeing most of the party had left they decided it was time to go back to Eden Hall. Walking along the streets Connie couldn't help but stare at Luis's tanned complexion, if you would have asked her 10 hours ago if this was happening, her being with someone other than Guy, let alone Luis, she would have laughed. He looked down at her petite figure and smiled, drunk or not, he really liked Connie Moreau, and if she needed someone to help get her over Guy, then he could just be that person.


	2. Apologies

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Ch.2- Apologies

The next morning at brunch the entire team looked like death warmed over. There was an abundance of coffee at the table, they needed to wake-up, they had open skate in two hours. The entire breakfast Connie and Luis kept stealing glances at one another, not going unnoticed by Charlie who grew angrier, finally bending his spoon so hard it went backwards. "Did you see the one kid in the corner last night," Russ asked, "He was so drunk people were just pegging him with shit."

"Hey, that was me," Averman said in all seriousness." The entire team laughed at Averman because he was quick to say Connie would be the drunkest but Averman was no stranger to embarrassing himself.

Nobody really noticed that Guy hadn't joined them or if they did, didn't dare say anything out loud. Living at Eden Hall, you got to choose your roommates, living in the athletic building, most of the Ducks lived with each other, except for Guy, who lived with Aaron Rowan, a basketball player. Secretly each guy was thankful they didn't have to live with him, especially now. Something happened to Guy during their time at Eden Hall. He suddenly stopped being the Guy they once knew and turned into something completely foreign.

"We have to be on the ice by 12:30," Charlie said. "Orion isn't going to be there, it's just a captain's practice, so we'll do light stuff," he added while the group headed back to the dorms. Hockey season wasn't officially starting until October 21st but until then Charlie could schedule captain's practices so they get some time on the ice.

Guy had entered the locker room and it got completely silent. Goldberg who was previously telling a story of Russ trying to get with a sophomore the night before became silent and went back to putting his pads on. Connie took this as her cue to leave the room wanting to avoid any confrontation. Luis followed her because he was the only other person ready.

Once on the ice she began to skate laps picking up speed with each turn. Soon she was skating faster than she normally does but Luis still caught up to her. "Connie stop," he yelled. He could see the tears forming in her eyes, but she refused to let them spill over. She didn't think it was going to be this hard to see him. "Hey it's okay, you can cry, I'm right here," he said into her ear. As she stood there, her head on his shoulder pad the rest of the team including Guy walked onto the ice. Not wanting to make a scene they didn't all skate over at once but as soon as she began skating again, each Duck skated by her and said something or just patted her on the helmet with their glove.

"Hey Cons, success is the best revenge," Fulton said to her as he patted her helmet with his oversized glove.

The team continued to skate around warming up in pairs of two or three. Guy was skating behind Averman and Kenny when heard Averman say, "Dude I don't care if I've known her since I was little I wish I could have seen her naked last night like Luis did." That put Guy over the edge. He skated over to Luis and blindsided him with a stray punch. Luis reacted quickly with one of his own and pulled Guy's helmet off. Luis got a couple more punches in until Portman and Fulton broke it up.

"That's fucked up Luis, real fucked up," Guy screamed as Portman held him back.

"What is, the fact that you cheated on your girlfriend or the fact that she got over you so quickly?" Luis asked as Fulton let him go.

Connie's cheeks were crimson. She didn't want the entire team to sit and focus on this issue. "You know what Guy, get over it, did you think it was fucked up when you made a fool out of me by cheating on me twice?" She skated towards him slowly, "You meant everything to me and you knew it, now you mean absolutely nothing." She pushed his chest with her gloved hand. "You're a nobody." She paused for a moment, "What you can't handle that someone else got what apparently wasn't good enough for you. Yeah it happened, and it might happen again I don't know. What I do know is that for the rest of my life you will be invisible to me," she said as she skated towards the locker room. Everyone stood there shocked, they knew the time would come when Connie would say something they just didn't think it would happen so quickly.

A moment passed by before Charlie skated after her only to be stopped by Julie, "Let her cool off Charlie, you know she has a temper." There really wasn't a point in having the rest of open skate because one of their teammates left and two others were most likely going to kill each other.

A couple more minutes passed by before the others skated by Guy many not even making eye contact with him. Charlie stopped in front of him, "Listen Guy, she's my best friend, you and I both know she holds a grudge for a long time so I think it would be best if you kept your distance from all of us for a little bit, until things cool down," he said. "I have to say that as your captain, but as her best friend if you ever hurt her again, I swear to god you have no idea what will happen to you," he said through gritted teeth.

It had been a quiet afternoon on the second floor of Hayden Hall dormitory. After what had taken place at open skate most people were scared to say the wrong thing and set someone off. Julie, Dean, Fulton, Adam, and Kenny all went to go see a movie to lighten their own moods. Charlie decided to go home and visit his mom for the afternoon. The rest of the team was scattered throughout the dorm keeping quiet

There was a knock on Dwayne and Luis's door, odd because the last thing they wanted was a visitor. "Come in," they both yelled in unison.

"Hey guys," Connie said quietly, "I just wanted to check up on your face Luis," she said as she handed him an ice pack.

"Thanks shorty," he said to her as he took the icepack from her hand holding it a moment longer just to feel her skin. She hadn't heard that nickname in years. It's true she was short, barely 5'3.

"I'm going to go down the hall ya'll," Dwayne announced knowing he should probably leave so the two could talk about what happened the previous night.

They sat in silence before Luis patted to the spot next to him on his bed for Connie to sit. "Just so you know, I don't regret anything that happened last night," Connie said looking at him.

"Good because I'm not going to apologize," Luis continued, "The truth is I've liked you for so long Cons but I never wanted to do anything because of Guy." He paused trying to arrange his next sentence. "He treated you like shit and you never left, I almost gave up hope, it was so hard watching that happen to you," he finally said while looking into her eyes the entire time.

They sat there for a while before Connie finally reached up and kissed him softly on the lips. "I want to hang out more, because the truth is although I stayed with Guy all this time I feel as though most of my feelings started to slip away, he really did treat me like shit," she said. "I guess maybe I was just scared of being without him."

Luis nodded in agreement realizing that everything he once thought in his head was finally playing out in reality.

Later that night in the dining hall, the entire team minus Guy sat and tried to make conversation that didn't involve Connie and Guy, Connie and Luis, Luis and Guy, or alcohol, most of the team was still pretty hung over. "So I heard Rick Riley got into a fight in one of his minor league games last season and still hasn't been able to get back onto the ice," Adam said.

Ah, Rick Riley one of the Ducks favorite people, not. After the JV-Varsity showdown, Riley and his friends lightened up on the Ducks. Scooter and Julie even dated for a couple months. Riley was always trying to get Scooter to ask Connie if they could hook up, the answer was always no. Now thinking back on it, it would have pissed Guy off so much.

"Who would even pick him up, he's garbage," Charlie said through bites of his food.

Connie looked over at him her head resting on her arms, "Can you chew your food then talk Spazway," she said laughing. It was the first time in a while she really just laughed, not being controlled by her sad moods or lingering doubts in her head. "Fult, guess who I saw at the mall last weekend," Connie said not waiting for an answer, "Tammy Duncan, she looks horrible."

"Wow I haven't heard that name in a while," he said. It was a lie, he thought about his ex-girlfriend all the time. She too cheated. It happened last year just after the Ducks lost in the state semi-finals but Fulton Reed never stopped thinking about the one that got away. He knew Connie was just making up the part about her looking horrible to make him feel better. Tammy was gorgeous, always was.

"Can we do something fun tonight," Julie said practically whining as she grabbed Russ's forearm frantically.

"Woah, chill your shit Julie," Russ replied removing her arm. "You guys just want to lay low here tonight drink some beers," he said. Although they were very well known for being the Ducks, they always had a hard time getting beer themselves so they relied on older siblings.

"Yeah, I'll call Mike," Connie said. Realizing she hadn't told anyone in her family about what happened she thought again, "Actually could you call Jen instead Fult, I really don't want to have to talk to the family yet."

"Ugh," Fulton said slouching in his chair, "For you I guess shorty."

"That's the second time today someone has called me that, you guys don't have to break out old nicknames just because I broke up with my boyfriend, I'm not glass I won't break," she added standing up from the table.

"Cons are you going to eat that sandwich," Goldberg asked.

"You can eat it Goldberg, I'm going to go shower," she stated before leaving the dining hall.

Later that night as they sat around Charlie and Adam's room casually drinking, Connie walked out of the room soon followed by Luis. Nobody really said anything, in their own unique Duck way, not criticizing them was their seal of approval.

As soon as the hit the hallway his lips pressed against her and he pinned her against the wall lifting her and she wrapped her legs around him. "We can't do this here," she said in between kisses.

"It's kind of kinky, I like the rush of being able to be caught at any moment," he responded kissing her neck. "Lets go back to my room it's closer," he said moving away from the wall Connie still attached to his waist. As soon as he slid his card into the door to open it she was ripping his clothes off.

"Why have we not done this sooner," she said as he placed her on his bed and he stood. He took her pants off and shimmied her underwear down her legs. "Where's the condom?" she asked wanting to feel his touch soon.

"I have one right here," he said taking it out of his jean pocket.

Connie took the opportunity to take her shirt off and when Luis stood back up he was greeted with a full view of her chest. Smiling he took her off the bed and laid her on the ground. "Last night we fucked, tonight lets just have sex, eventually we'll get to the love making," he said.

"Wow nine cheap beers really makes you a Casanova with your words Luis," she laughed. He put his lips to hers to quiet her reaction only to have her pull away and laugh again. "It's kind of hot though, you trying to impress me like I haven't known you since we were 13 and you were trying to catch me naked in the locker room," she added cheekily.

"Do you want me to have sex with you or bring up the time in 10th grade when you walked in on Amy Winchester giving me head," he rebutted.

"Oh god I completely just lost my sexual drive remembering that tramp and her escapades with your penis."

Normally a conversation like this with two people lying naked on a carpeted dorm room floor would make for an uncomfortable atmosphere but Connie and Luis have never been uncomfortable with each other.

"I'm sorry I even brought it up," she said as he crawled on top of him and reconnected their lips.

AN: I'm not really sure if I want Connie to end up with Luis yet, review and help me out!! THANKS!!


	3. Don't it Always Seem to Go

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Ch.3 Don't it Always Seem to Go

Authors Note: Hey I hope you guys like the story so far, I'm still deciding what to do with Connie. Definitely no Guy, it's either Charlie or Luis, somehow I always love seeing her with Charlie, like he protects her, but Luis and her always had this connection. Hope you enjoy! – Review pretty pretty please!

Soon August turned into late October and hockey preseason was here. The rest of the open skates had gone by without any more outbursts from Luis or Guy. Luis and Connie continued to do whatever it was they were doing. They hadn't put a label on it but the girls at Eden Hall knew something was going on with the one time heartthrob, he was no longer prowling them at parties or walking them to class. He valued what him and Connie shared and he would never want to put her through what Guy did.

What was once sex turned into hanging out all the time, taking walks, watching movies, just being with each other was good enough for them. "Have you heard anything from schools yet?" Connie asked one day while sitting at her desk while Luis was lying on her bed

"I haven't made a final commitment but I'm really considering University of Miami for track," he said back nonchalantly. While Luis was a phenomenal hockey player, his true strength had always been his speed, a lot of schools were recruiting him on potential alone. U-Miami also allowed him to be closer to his family after all this time away.

"Ugh that puts you steps away from me already," she sighed. Connie wasn't stuck in a fantasy world she knew the odds of any of them playing hockey together in college were slim she would probably just stay close and attend the University of Minnesota with the rest of the kids who didn't get recruited.

"You can come visit me when it gets cold up here in good ol' Minnesota," he said looking over to her for an answer of approval.

"You'll be the geeky track freak, why would I want to come and visit you ever," she said showing no sign of joke in her retort until her lips turned upward in the slightest smile. "I'm just kidding, of course I'll come visit you down there, maybe I'll let you take me out, wine and dine, you might even get to have drunk, rough sex," she laughed as she got out of her chair and walked towards him.

"What if we never go to college and just stay like this forever," she asked standing by the foot of her bed.

"You would hate that and you know it," he said leading her to the door. "Besides there's so much out there."

Charlie Conway didn't let things sit inside his mind. If he had a problem he voiced it. That's why for the past two months sitting in his room thinking about his best friend having sex with another guy was eating him up inside. He couldn't tell Connie to stop doing it. It wasn't his job, as his best friend he was supposed to support her, even if he thought she was making a bad decision. Pacing around the floor of his room he scratched his fluffy brown hair and thought about what to do. He heard knocking at the door.

"Connie," he said surprised, "What's up?"

"I don't think we've hung out by ourselves since summertime Charlie," she said walking into the room and throwing herself on his bed.

"Well you've been a little busy lately, and we've had hockey, and college stuff," he said trying to find excuses for why he was avoiding his best friend.

"Yeah but lets hang out just you and me, we can go do something really fun," she said smiling upward at him.

"You want to do what we used to do when we were little?" he asked fully knowing she would say yes.

"Aw Charlie that would mean so much!" she squealed as she hugged her shaggy haired best friend.

Fulton Reed wasn't a person to wallow in self-pity, he left that up to Adam or Guy, someone who had real feelings. Fulton Reed didn't sit around and think about past chances or missed opportunities. But somehow on a mild day in October he found himself wandering the streets of Minneapolis thinking about what he could have done seven months ago so that Tammy Duncan didn't cheat on him.

He stumbled into the old skate shop, fully knowing he wouldn't see Hans, no because just like everything else good Hans was taken away, he left. Just like Bombay had left them and Tammy left him, Fulton needed someone to talk to and Portman was too wrapped up in Julie's legs to even realize.

"Yo Fulton," he heard his name being called from the back of the store.

"Jesse?" Fulton looked confused as he saw his onetime teammate and friend. "How are you doing man," he asked as him engulfed his friend in a man-like hug.

"I'm good man, just trying to survive senior year, and try to keep Terry out of trouble." Terry Hall had become notorious for being a troublemaker when they were younger, only now it turned to more serious trouble making, the kind you can't just apologize for. "How are you though man, how are the rest of the guys?"

"Everyone's doing pretty good, Connie and Guy broke up, he cheated on her with some girl at UM."

"Wow, she finally broke up with him huh? I'm going to have to call her see if she still want to be part of the Oreo line," he said referring to District 5 days.

"Nah man, she and Luis kind of have a little thing going on, shit was pretty intense in the beginning, it's cooled down a lot though," Fulton said.

"So how are you doing Fult," Jesse asked all jokes aside.

"I guess I'm doing good, you know just mostly school and hockey a little partying on the side when I can," Fulton said.

"I already know what you want to ask so I'll tell you," Jesse said being blunt, "She's not the same without you, I can see it in the way she talks, the way she acts, she's going crazy without you Fult," Jesse said knowing Fulton was thinking about Tammy. "In school she just keeps to herself, doesn't really let anyone get too close, fear of hurting them too," he finished.

"Yeah well that's her fault, I mean I didn't make her cheat on me with Dave Larson," Fulton said staring at the sticks on the wall. "I don't want to feel like Connie all the time, knowing you can't even trust your own girlfriend."

"I know man, I understand really, just give her a call sometime let her know you're still here."

"I gotta go Jesse, I'll talk to you later man but, say hi to everyone for me," Futlon said suddenly needing air.

"Even her," Jesse asked pointedly

"Nah man, not yet," Fulton shook his head as he walked out of the shop bell ringing as her went.

As Connie and Charlie walked through the floors of Minneapolis Memorial Hospital, Connie couldn't help but feel like her best friend was not telling her something.

They stopped right in front of the window, the window they always went to when something bad happened. They went there when Hans died, when Bombay left, when Charlie left school, and the first time Guy cheated on Connie. Looking into the room their eyes were filled with hope, for the beaming spec wrapped tightly in pink and blue receiving blankets knew no other emotion but being content. They had yet to feel the raw emotions of being a teenager.

"You think that these kids will grow up like we did?" Connie asked breaking a silence that hung in the air.

"I don't know Cons," Charlie paused, "They should feel happiness like we did, they should find friends they would die for, like we did but, they should never have to feel pain of losing someone, or the pain of falling in love for the first time," he said solemnly.

"Charlie," Connie began to speak, "Linda loved you in her own weird hippie righteous way," Connie said completely unaware that the person he was talking about was standing inches away from his face.

"Yeah, Linda, right," Charlie said frustrated thinking about the girl he dated throughout freshman and sophomore years.

Connie didn't know that Charlie really meant he didn't want those baby boys to fall in love with their first friend at the age of 5, have that friend fall in love with your other friend and then watch her heart get broken twice and look at you to pick up the pieces because everyone else pretended it never happened.

"Connie I totally forgot I was supposed to help my mom with something, I really have to go, I'm sorry," he said hurriedly walking towards the elevators.

"It's okay, I kind of want to walk back anyway, you know one of the last nice days before our hellish winter," she said crooking her mouth into a half smile.

"Do you ever think that you'll make it to the NHL?" Julie asked Portman as they sat on his bed the same afternoon.

"I mean it'd be really cool but who know anymore, things can change at the drop of a dime," he said. "Why you want to be my water girl," he asked tickling her sides.

"I AM NOBODY'S WATERGIRL," she screamed trying to hide her laughter.

"To be honest," Portman started, "I'm still getting used to the idea of all of us in high school together, and in eight months or so, we're all going to be going our separate ways," he said, a serious tone in his voice. "The Ducks are my family, you are the people I want to come home to," he added.

"I know, who knows what the future will hold, maybe more of us will end up together then we hoped, we always have breaks, and summer to visit," she said trying to reassure him.

"Come on all this mushy talk is making me want to go cause some trouble, lets go egg Guy's window or something," he said only half joking.

With her iPod ear buds in her ear, Connie couldn't hear her name being called out loudly behind her. Finally she felt a hand touch her arm and she nearly jumped two feet in the air. Turning around she saw it was Fulton.

"Jesus Fult, did you want to freaking kill me?" she asked.

"Sorry shorty, I called your name like seven times," he said stepping away from her as the two continued walking.

"Where are you coming from?" she asked/

"I just took a walk around the city, just thinking, trying to clear my head, gather my thoughts, you know the usual," he said nonchalantly. "What are you doing,"

"Well, I was hanging out with Charlie but he said he had to leave all of a sudden to help his mom with something, he's been really weird this year," she said as she put her iPod back into her teal colored purse.

"Yeah everybody's been on edge lately, except for you," he said looking down at his friend.

"Life really has been good for me lately, no boyfriend to make me angry, sex to make me happy, hockey to make me feel like this can stay good forever," she smiled.

"You really can't stop smiling if you tried can you?" he asked so perplexed that at a time so stressful for many Connie was finally finding her peace.

"In this moment I am happy Fult," she said. "It'll find it's way back to you too Fulton Reed, that is one thing I can promise, the heart finds its way back," she said as they opened the door to their dorm building.

"I mean there are a lot of gay athletes around," Goldberg said to Averman, Russ, and Dwayne later on, "If the statistics are right, someone on this team has got to be gay."

"It's not Luis," Dwayne said, "The boy gets his on the regular, it's like they just don't stop," he added.

"Charlie hasn't really had a serious thing since Linda," Russ pointed out as he picked up a picture of their team their freshman year at Eden Hall.

"Nah, Spazway is too much of an All-American to be gay," Averman pointed out grabbing the picture.

"Maybe our team just defies the statistics and we're all heterosexual males," Goldberg said matter of factly snatching the picture from Averman.

"Could be Ken, he did figure skate for a while," Dwayne said plainly looking over Goldberg's shoulder to see the picture.

"Eh, who really cares, it's not like anyone would hit on us now, they've known us for too long," Russ said finally getting the picture back.

Guy Germaine had gotten very close with his television in the past three months. He only left his plain dorm room for classes, practice, and food, even then it was hard, he would always see at least one or two Ducks walking together. He missed them but he also knew that they weren't ready to talk to him.

Guy didn't want things to be like this, he didn't intend on hurting Connie. When you're with someone as long as they were, sometimes you just need new things, or in his case new ass. It just seemed so weird how Connie got over it so quickly, so unfazed by throwing away a relationship that had lasted them so long. He walked over to his desk and opened the third drawer completely. Once he pulled it out, he reached into the back and pulled out a small box. Inside the box was a picture, a letter, and an even smaller box. The picture was the Ducks, their freshman year at Eden Hall. Guy had his arm slung around Connie and she was smiling at the camera, things were easier then, they hadn't experienced heartbreak.

The letter was from Bombay, dated only weeks ago. It told Guy that in order to get back his friends, he had to accept the things he'd done over the past two years were wrong and unless he admitted to them publicly he would never be forgiven. The last was a small box and inside the box was a locket, from his grandmother before she died two years ago. Guy's grandmother had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for as long as he could remember. He visited her every weekend but never told anyone on the team about her, not even Connie. When she died his sophomore year, he became so angry about everything, he shut out the world and became a cold, dark, person.

Staring into the picture Guy ripped it in two. He took the letter and ripped that as well. Finally he took the locked broke the chain and threw it all in the garbage, so much for the memories.


End file.
